The time has finally arrived and we now know the fastest qualifier around Bahrain is Max Verstappen
Q1
Charles Leclerc was one of the first bits of action we saw as parts of his car came flying off the car, as he locked up in to turn 1 a red flag was thrown early in the session to collect the debris. After the red flag the times began to roll in as we saw Ferrari and Mercedes step up putting in competitive times at the front of the grid which we haven't seen so far. Mclaren look to have real struggles with Oscar Piastri failing to get out of Q1 along with other rookies Nyck Devries and Logan Sargeant. All of the cars were split by just over 1 second, we do indeed have a tight field.
OUT
16th - SAR, 17th - GAS, 18th -MAG, 19th - PIA and 20th - DEV
Q2
Q2 didn't begin with a flurry of cars coming out of the pits but eventually Hulkenburg led the drivers heading out. After the first runs the standings were the redbulls, lead by Max Verstappen followed by the Mercedes lead by Lewis Hamilton then Alonso ahead of the two Ferraris. Lando nearly dragged his Mclaren in to the top ten with Hulkenberg putting the Haas as best of the rest considering Aston Martin may no longer be a part of ' the rest'.
11th - NOR, 12th - BOT, 13th -ZHO, 14th - TSU and 15th - ALB
Q3
Max came straight out of the gates to go top with a 1:29:897 just over a tenth faster than Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari. This being the first time we had seen both cars on full power putting in a proper lap, and it looks very close. But after they had their banker the Mercedes and Fernando Alonso came out of the pits for us to see if they really are all in for a shout, Alonso came in behind Perez, followed by Russell, Sainz and Hamilton.
Charles Leclerc couldn't get back out of the garage to have a final flurry leaving Verstappen, Perez and Sainz to fight for pole. Max put in a great lap which Perez and Sainz stayed with him with Perez just behind by a tenth and Sainz a couple of tenths.
1st - VER, 2nd - PER, 3rd - LEC, 4th - SAI, 5th - ALO, 6th - RUS, 7th - HAM, 8th - STR, 9th - OCO, 10th - HUL
To see the main event tomorrow tune in to F1 TV or Skysports F1 at 3pm GMT to find out how well the teams qualifying translates to race pace and see some wheel to wheel action!
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